The Night the Lights went out in Hogsmead
by SiriuslyDistracted
Summary: based on a song By Reba McEntire, Harry finds out Ginny has been cheating AU


-1Disclaimer- I own none of the Potterverse, I'm only playing. The song is reba mcentires's

A/N- This is just a little one shot I thought about when I heard this song on the radio. It's The night the lights went out in Georgia by Reba McEntire.

"So tell me what happened." Nymphadora Tonks dropped into a chair, her hair was a somber black pulled into a simple ponytail. She wore formal robes for this meeting. "Look you need to give your statement." She added when the elderly woman across from her remained silent.

A set of eyes the color of well aged whiskey stared back at the Auror, half hidden by dark lashes and smoky lids. One long leg bounced gentaly, as the woman thought a moment. Her voice was husky when she finally started talking, "Harry was on his way home from the Dursleys', he'd been clearing up some paperwork since his Uncle Vernon died…"

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_He was on his way home from Candletop  
Been two weeks gone and he thought he'd stop  
At webs and have him a drink before he went home to her_

"Hey Sirius, well it's done. Everything is in order, Dudley and Petunia won't bother me anymore." Harry Potter, boy wonder, fairly skipped into the Three Broomsticks, clapping his Godfather on the back.

"That's good Harry, real good." Sirius wiped down the counter, his brow creased with worry. "You been home yet Harry?"

"Nah not yet. It's late, I figure Ginny's probably asleep, and I wanted to stop in a see how things were going with you. Where's 'Mione?" Harry looked around for his best friend and Sirius' wife. She was usually behind the bar during the Christmas break when she wasn't teaching Defense at Hogwarts.

"Um she's in the back. Said she didn't feel real good." Sirius was avoiding his godson's eyes knowing he would back down if he looked into those green orbs.

"What's wrong Sirius? Has something happened? What's wrong with Hermione?" Harry was starting to worry, his godfather hadn't been this nervous since he'd proposed to Hermione.

Sirius dropped the rag he was ringing, he'd never been one to mince words and refused to start now. "Sit Harry, there's something we need to talk about…" Sirius poured a generous glass of Firewhiskey. _  
_

_Andy Wo-lo said hello  
He said hi what's a doing  
Wo said sit down I got some bad news that's gonna hurt  
Said I'm your best friend and you know that's right  
But your young bride ain't home tonight  
Since you been gone she's been seeing that Amos boy Seth  
He got mad and he saw red  
Andy said boy don't you lose your head  
Cause to tell you the truth I've been with her myself  
_

"Um, I don't know how to tell you this kid, but Ginny isn't home tonight." Sirius felt like the dog he could become doing this, but he'd be damned if he was going to see that little slut screw around with his godson. "She's with that Malfoy boy."

Harry laughed, "That's a good one Padfoot, you almost had me there." He stood up to leave, "Come on Sirius, I know you aren't real fond of Gin, but she is my wife."

"Harry, I saw them this afternoon. 'Mione saw them, if you wont believe me, ask her." Sirius walked around the bar, "I'm sorry I wish I was lying."

Harry nodded, he could see the truth in his godfathers gray eyes. His heart wanted to deny that his wife was messing around with the man he'd accepted as a friend after the demise of Voldemort, she'd sworn her loyalty to him, sworn to be faithful. But his mind told him Sirius would never joke about this, it was just too cold.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That bitch was screwing anything that moved. Harry was blinded by love but the rest of us saw it, saw her sly looks and the little grins she gave anyone who looked twice at her. It was sick."

Tonks studied the fine lines that marked the woman's face, she marveled at how well she'd aged from the young girl she'd met once, had faught along side in a war. It was amazing how little one could change in almost a hundred years, and how little one could know about those around them.

"Harry knew Sirius wouldn't lie. He left the bar and walked home."

_  
That's the night the lights went out in Georgia  
That's the night that they hung an innocent man  
Don't trust your soul to no back woods southern lawyer  
Cause the judge in the towns got bloodstains on his hand  
Andy got scared and left the bar  
Walking on home cause he didn't live far you see  
Andy didn't have many friends and he just lost him one  
_

Harry thanked his godfather and stepped out of the warm pub into the softly falling snow. He didn't live far, just on the other side of Hogsmead and decide that a little walk would calm him down. His heart was shattering at the thought of the only woman he'd ever loved betraying him. The small cottage he'd shared with Ginny for the six months they'd been married was dark when he walked up the stone path to the door. The living room was cold and looked as though it'd been empty since he'd left two weeks ago. Parchments and notices were piled up by the door, all the notes he'd assumed had either been lost or forgotten were lying unopened across the hardwood floor. She'd probably left the second he'd stepped through the floo.

The photo on the mantle caught his eye, the tiny couple was spinning around and around to music only they could hear, smiling at what each said. Harry grasped his and Ginny's wedding photo. He heaved it at the wall smirking when the glass shattered. He grasped his wand tightly in one fist, and slammed out of the cottage. Malfoy lived on the other side of a small park, only a short walk from his cottage.

_Brother thought his wife must've left town  
So he went home and finally found the only thing  
Daddy had left him and that was a gun  
He went off to Andy's house  
Slipping through the back woods quiet as a mouse  
Came upon some tracks too small for Andy to make  
_

Harry felt the snow on his face, it felt good against his anger heated skin. The night was silent, everyone was locked safely in their homes with their loved ones. He glanced at the blanket of snow settled around him as he walked. Someone had been out tonight, there was a tiny set of footprints cutting across the park, straight to Draco's backdoor. Harry wondered idly if they were Ginny's. Shaking the thoughts off he climbed the stairs to the back door. Raising his fist to pound on the cold wood, it swung open.

_He looked through the screen at the back porch door  
He saw Andy lying on the floor  
In a puddle of blood and he started to shake  
The Georgia patrol was making their rounds  
So he fired a shot just to flag 'em down  
And a big bellied sheriff grabbed his gun and said  
Why'd you do it?  
_

Harry groaned, Draco's body was lying in a pool of blood. His normally sparkling gray eyes were staring blankly into space. He looked like he'd been screaming when he'd died. Someone had cast a cutting curse and sliced open the pale man's throat, spraying blood all over the small kitchen. Harry ran outside, gagging at the sight. He could hear an Aurors call, "3am and alls well."

He lifted his wand, all the anger gone now and sent red sparks flying out of the tip.

There was a startled yelp from the side of Draco's cabin drawing Harry's attention.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed, "I don't care, go. Get out of here now." He swung his wand around, pointing it at the cloaked figure half hidden in the shadows "before I make you disappear, don't say a word to anyone about this. Promise me." The figure held up it's hands and disappeared with a small pop.

"What the hell Harry?" A large Auror grabbed Harry's arm.

He looked up into the dark angry face of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Harry was arrested for the murder of Draco Malfoy, but you already know that." The woman shifted in her seat and shoved a thin hand through her now gray hair. "You also know what happened after that, Harry was sentenced to Azkaban then given the Dementors kiss a year later."

Tonks nodded that she knew all about the fate of the boy-who-lived. It had been an odd case. No evidence against the man, only his refusal to say what had happened. The papers had made it out to be a love triangle where Harry had walked in on his friend and his wife together and she'd gotten away.

"What you don't know is that Kingsley had been screwing Ginny also. As had his judge Neville Longbottom. Harry never had a chance when he went to trial…"_  
_

_The judge said guilty in a make believe trial  
Slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile and said  
Suppers waiting at home and I got to get to it  
They hung my brother before I could say  
The tracks he saw while on his way  
To Andy's house and back that night were mine  
And his cheating wife had never left town  
And that's one body that'll be found  
You see little sister don't miss when she aims her gun_

"So what you're saying is that Harry Potter didn't kill Draco Malfoy and that Ginny Potter is still alive some where?" Tonks asked.

The woman grinned, the Auror just didn't get it. Riding a desk for the last fifty years must have dulled her wits. "I'm saying that I'm the one who killed Draco and Ginny. I got rid of the cheating whore's body before Harry arrived and had returned to get rid of Draco but he saw me. I was the cloaked figure Kingsley thought he saw that night."

"Why are you telling us this now?"

"Because I'm an old woman, my husband is dead, my children are grown and I am dying."

Tonks nodded, pointed her wand at the quill that had been taking down the witch's statement and grabbed the parchment as it snapped closed and sealed itself.

"Hermione Jane Black. You are under arrest for the murders of Ginny Potter and Draco Malfoy, and for obstruction of justice, hiding the events of a crime, destroying evidence and allowing an innocent man to pay for your crimes." Tonks bound the elderly woman's wrist ignoring the twist of sympathy as she did so. Harry and Hermione had been like brother and sister after Ron had died. And Tonks couldn't honestly say she wouldn't have done the same thing if someone had been hurting her family.


End file.
